I have to admit that I had this happen to me in my "high-ish" end tent. Basically, after 8 or so years, the waterproof coating had degraded on the tent fly. On our first trip of the season, my wife and I got a little moisture leaking through during a very heavy rain. I don't use that tent too much, but I'm sure if it spent another year without using it and the coating degraded further, I would have been completely soaked during a heavy rain. As it turned out, when I got home I re-waterproofed the fly and floor with TentSure and now it's working great.

Maybe this is a good start-of-camping-season message:

Even high end tents need to be tested before depending on them. Do a backyard test before a camping trip!!! Set it up and take a hose and give it a good soak. Better to find a problem in the backyard than 10 miles from a trailhead.

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